Toni Kukoc scored 20 of his 25 points during the worst first
half in New York Knicks history as the Chicago Bulls coasted to
a 76-63 victory.

The Knicks shot 26 percent (7-of-27) and yielded 21 points off
17 turnovers over the first 24 minutes, scoring a franchise-low
22 points. New York tied a team record with five points in the
second quarter -- a dubious feat last accomplished in the third
quarter at Portland on February 6, 1997.

Ironically, the Knicks' previous mark for first-half futility
was a 26-point effort at Chicago on February 23, 1973.

"We feel really good about that one," Chicago coach Tim Floyd
said. "We played four games in five nights and we got through
this one with effort and energy. That was real encouraging."

Allan Houston scored 16 points for the Knicks, who have lost
five straight road games and suffered their first defeat to
Chicago in three attempts in the post-Jordan era.

Larry Johnson's layup drew New York even, 2-2. But the Bulls
scored the next 18 points, including 11 from Kukoc, opening a
20-2 bulge with 7:03 left.

"It was important that our team got off to a good start and we
were able then to play with the lead and I think that helped
us," said Kukoc. "In this kind of season, you're going to get
games like this."

"We understand what we have to do and tonight we didn't do
that," added Johnson, who scored four points on 1-of-4 shooting.
"I wasn't mentally prepared to play."

The Knicks pulled within 29-17 after one quarter, but were
outscored 18-5 in the second -- thanks to five points from
Latrell Sprewell -- and limped off the floor, facing a 47-22
halftime deficit.

"If I had an answer (to what's wrong with this team), we would
have taken care of things a long time ago and that's why we had
to have a talk tonight," said Sprewell.

Randy Brown scored 11 points and Dickey Simpkins added 10 and 11
rebounds for the Bulls, who dropped their first two decisions to
the Knicks by a combined 35 points.

"This was a big defensive game for us," said Simpkins. "We
really played some offense too which was what we needed to do.
They embarrassed us at their arena and we took it personally and
this is the first time that we have played them since. Hey, we
needed an easy one. We have battled all year and come out on the
losing end many times. So this one felt good."

New York avoided establishing a new single-game NBA-low when
Chris Dudley canned a short jumper with just over two minutes
remaining to give the Knicks 56 points. The Indiana Pacers
suffered a record-setting 74-55 loss to San Antonio last March
29.

Marcus Camby's layup with 23 seconds remaining capped the
scoring and helped the Knicks avoid setting an all-time
franchise low for points. New York managed only 61 points at
Detroit on April 12, 1992.

Jordan, who was the Knicks' postseason nemesis during his
illustrious career, would surely have taken pleasure in seeing
his former club give New York the type of thrashing he doled out
to them quite regularly.

New York coach Jeff Van Gundy did not find anything laughable
about his teams peformance and indicated his displeasure at a
players only meeting which was called immediately after the
debacle.

"As a coach, it's an embarrassing feeling," Van Gundy added. "To
start the game we did everything we could to be that bad. You
would have to do everything possible to play that bad."

The final outcome could have been far worse for New York, but
Chicago shot just 37 percent (26-of-71) and committed 18
turnovers.

The Knicks finished at a season-worst 31 percent (19-of-61) from
the field, registering the fewest field goals in the history of
the United Center. Chicago scored 27 points off 23 turnovers.

Kurt Thomas and Camby each scored 13 points and Sprewell added
10 for the Knicks, who were outrebounded, 43-38.

New York has been without the services of leading scorer and
rebounder Patrick Ewing, who suffered an achilles injury Tuesday
against Milwaukee. But the Knicks cannot blame Ewing for this
loss, as they posted an easy 98-86 victory over Washington on
Thursday without their star center.

"We lost," said Ewing. "I'm mad. It doesn't matter what we
talked about, we lost."